ERA boss decries ‘partial’ passage of petroleum regulatory bill

Senate’s recent passage of the petroleum industry governance bill (PIGB) is no more than window dressing and a grope in the dark, and therefore, unacceptable.

The Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN), Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, stated this in an interview with The Guardian in Benin City, Edo State.

Ojo, who has been at the forefront of agitations for ‘leave the oil in the soil’ and a retention of the original Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), had earlier criticised the PIGB, describing it as a ‘desecrated version’ of the PIG.

“The bill is pro-industry and fails to provide any holistic approach to resolving the persistent resource conflicts, environmental degradation and human rights violation being perpetrated by multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta on a daily basis.

“Since rural farming and fishing livelihoods have been destroyed what innovative ways are being proposed to account for this? The earlier versions of the Bill in the previous years recommended the inclusion of at least 10 per cent equity fund from oil revenue to be devolved to the oil and gas host communities.

“This is to enable the communities get involved in decision making and community development of their areas. In this present bill, community concerns are grossly neglected,” he stated.